By JOE BYRD

Sports Writer

ELIZABETHTON -- West Greene continues to live a charmed life in the District 1-AA Baseball Tournament.

The Buffaloes got an RBI triple from Adrian Sauceman and a run-scoring double from Dalton Lamb in the top of the seventh to beat Chuckey-Doak 5-4 here Monday night at Joe O'Brien Field.

That makes it five wins in-a-row for the Buffs, and their second win over a higher-seeded opponent in the postseason.

"These boys are coming out here and doing exactly what I've asked them to do," said coach Mark Bowles. "I could be no prouder of them than what I am."

The Black Knights appeared to have done enough in the fourth inning to have things in hand, but their own miscues in the fifth let West Greene back into the game.

There were no freebies for the Buffs in the seventh. Plate discipline and a couple of hard hits earned what will go down as a famous victory.

Bowles said he's seen the signs that West Greene was capable of big wins. It was just a matter of getting the best out of the team when it mattered.

"It was probably the Elizabethton game right after we got back from spring break," Bowles said. "It was a 4-4 game going into the sixth inning. They erupted for several runs to win the game. The next day, Chuckey-Doak was up on us. We battled back, and they ended up beating us. From that point on, I was very pleased with the way we've been playing."

West Greene got out front early, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Sauceman drew a walk and scored on an RBI single from Lamb.

The score stayed there until the bottom of the fourth when Chuckey-Doak sparked for all four of its runs. Chad Shelton and Trevor Richerson led off the inning with back-to-back doubles. Tyler Feezell drove in a pair of runs with single to left and Devin Williams pushed one across that gave the Knights a 4-1 advantage.

Control issues became a problem for the Knights in the top of the fifth. West Greene got four base runners and scored two runs to make it 4-3 without a single hit.

Zach McCamey, who had taken the mound in relief in the fourth for the Buffs, was solid in the fifth and sixth innings. Chuckey-Doak didn't have any opportunities to pad its lead which proved critical in the end.

Adam Shepherd led off the top of the seventh with a walk and scored on Sauceman's triple to right to tie the game at four. Chuckey-Doak kept it tight when shortstop Brandon Randolph threw Sauceman out at the plate for the second out after Jordan Ward made contact.

But with two away, Lamb came through for the Buffs, launching a long ball into left for an RBI double that put West Greene up 5-4.

Chuckey-Doak didn't go down without a fight. Drew Lady reached on an error and Shelton came within feet of tying the game with one swing of the bat, but his blast fell harmlessly in the glove of Jordan Davis on the warning track. Lady's potential tying run was left on second when West Greene's McCamey ended the game with a strikeout.

The win puts the Buffs (11-12) into tonight's winner's bracket final against No. 1 seed Unicoi County (23-6) at 7:30 p.m.

Can the Buffs make it three straight tournament wins over higher seeded opponents? Bowles doesn't see any reason why not.

"We faced two very good, respected, disciplined teams in Elizabethton and Chuckey-Doak," Bowles said. "I'm not taking anything away from them because they are great teams. I've just challenged our boys to come out here and battle. They have. I know (Unicoi County) is going to be a big game for us, but we're going to have to take it one game at a time and see what we are capable of doing."

Chuckey-Doak (16-13) puts its tournament life on the line in an elimination game against Happy Valley (13-13), who literally threw away a chance at beating the Blue Devils on Monday in the bottom of the seventh inning. Game time is 6 p.m.

WG AB R H C-D AB R H

Davis, cf 3 1 0 W'lms, 2b 2 0 0

Sauceman, p 2 1 1 Lady, rf 4 0 0

Ward, c 2 1 1 Shelton, 1b 3 1 1

D.Lamb, 1b 4 0 2 R'chrsn, 3b 4 1 2

C.Lamb, ss 3 0 0 Keys, 2b 0 0 0

McCamey, dh 3 0 0 Masters, rf 0 0 0

Ricker, 2b 0 0 0 Tarlton, c 3 1 0

C'pbell, lf 3 0 1 R'dolph, ss 2 1 1

McAmis, rf 2 0 0 Feezell, p 3 0 2

Hopson, ph 1 0 0 Al'xdr, lf 2 0 0

Sh'prd, 3b 1 2 0 Davis, cf 3 0 0

TOTALS 26 5 4 TOTALS 26 4 6

2b hits: WG - Lamb, Campbell. C-D - Shelton, Richerson, Randolph. 3b hits: WG - Sauceman. LP: Shelton. WP: McCamey.

Score by innings:

West Greene 100 020 2 -- 5 4

Chuckey-Doak 000 400 0 -- 4 6